Adm. Thad W. Allen announced today that after completing his service as national incident commander of the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, he will join the RAND Corporation as a senior fellow, effective Oct. 4.

“Thad Allen has served the U.S. government and U.S. Coast Guard with great distinction,” said RAND President and CEO James A. Thomson. “We are delighted he will continue to take on the most difficult policy challenges as a RAND senior fellow. His experience and expertise will be apparent in our research and analysis on an array of homeland security, environmental and national security challenges.”

Allen was scheduled to join RAND in May 2010, shortly after he retired as commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard. But his transition was delayed when he was asked by President Obama to manage the oil spill emergency response and clean-up, for which his leadership has been widely praised.